


Winter Days

by StephirothWasTaken



Series: No Magic No Kingdom AU [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Baby Ignis Scientia, Baby Noctis Lucis Caelum, Baby Prompto Argentum, Carbuncle is a cat, Christmas, Disabled Character, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, No Magic No Kingdom AU, Paraplegia, Snow, Winter, baby Gladiolus Amicitia, overly doting father, winter-theme fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:15:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27898156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StephirothWasTaken/pseuds/StephirothWasTaken
Summary: A collection of Winter-themed shorts revolving around Noctis and from others' perspectives.1. Snowed In - Regis and Noctis get to spend a day together.2. Snowball Fight - Ignis has mixed feelings about his friends' shenanigans.3. Tree Decorating - Prompto tries to cheer up Noctis during his first holiday after the accident.4. Road Trip - Gladio takes Iris and Noctis on a road trip to Cape Caem for Winter break, but he ends up getting lost.5. Hot Chocolate - Regis finally tells Noctis how he met Aulea.
Relationships: Noctis Lucis Caelum & Regis Lucis Caelum
Series: No Magic No Kingdom AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1307753
Comments: 26
Kudos: 31





	1. Snowed In

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place at the same time as the first fic I wrote from "Snow Days" last year.  
> It didn't end up as long as I expected it to, but I'm happy to get some overly doting Regis in.

“Oh, Shiva’s tits,” Regis cursed.

Cor had called him early that morning to warn him of a blizzard, and he had hobbled on his swollen knee to a window to check for himself. His garden was buried beneath a huge layer of snow. Only the heads of a few of his tallest statues appeared above it, stone eyes peeking out from beneath a white hat. Wind blew some of it around.

Regis had met Aulea on the day of a blizzard, he recalled. They had been so young back then, so young they had thought each other full “icky.” He bit back a sigh as he thought of how much his late wife had loved the snow.

“Bit more than we expected,” Cor said.

Regis sank into a nearby chair, and he rubbed his swollen knee.

“This explains why my knee swelled up so much.”

“Preschool is canceled, so you don’t have to worry about taking Noctis there.”

“He’ll be more than happy to sleep in, which you should be doing right about now, you insomniac.”

“Already made my morning coffee.”

Regis shook his head. They both had a demanding schedule, but he would never understand how Cor did it all with only one demand: hot coffee. It was a habit they both carried after fighting in the Great War.

“I suppose you’re calling to make sure work gets canceled,” Regis teased.

“Neither of us is getting through this to go anywhere right now.”

“That’s true. I’ll have to make a few calls, and I’ll definitely need to tell Clarus. He’s the only man I know who’s crazy enough to try driving through this mess.”

“Tell him I said, ‘Hi.’”

“Tell him yourself. You’re antisocial enough. How’s Prompto?”

“Sleeping.”

“Like we should be.”

“Some of us are morning people.”

Regis scoffed. He had had this argument many times throughout his life: no sane people enjoyed mornings.

“I should make those calls so I can get back to sleep quickly,” he said. “Please enjoy your day with Prompto.”

“And you have a good day with Noctis.”

Regis ended the call with his friend, and with a sigh, he made a new phone call to the people who would make sure everyone knew he has cancelled work for the next few days. By the time he got to Clarus’s number, his bed was calling to him, but he wanted to make sure his oldest friend knew not to try anything dumb.

“Everything okay, Reggie?” Clarus said, voice rough with sleep.

“Everything’s fine, Clare,” Regis assured. “It’s only the blizzard I’m concerned about.”

“Blizzard?”

There was some shuffling from Clarus’s end, and he cursed aloud.

“I’ve already made all the calls I needed to make sure that everyone knows there won’t be work at the Citadel for a few days, and that means you have the day off.”

Clarus sighed.

“I was going to take Gladio to his favorite place to surprise him.”

“Well, I’m sure a day off from school would be just as good of a surprise.”

“Yeah, he’ll be happy.”

“I’m going back to sleep now. Enjoy your surprise day off.”

“Yeah, yeah, you, too.”

The two men hung up on each other. Regis hobbled back to his bed before he went to sleep near the window.

* * *

Regis woke to two beautiful sapphire eyes peering at him from the edge of his bed. The black hair above those eyes stuck up in odd places. Warmth filled his chest as he sat up to get a proper look at his little boy. He wore his favorite _‘Lil Malbuddy_ pajamas, the dark green colors clashing with his pale skin. His hands pressed against the side of the bed as he stood on his toes to see him.

“Good morning, Noctis,” he said.

“Hi, Daddy.”

Regis could not help the tender smile that spread across his face every time he saw his boy. There was surely no greater combination of two people’s features on any other person on Eos.

“Jenna said I don’t have to go to school,” Noctis said.

It took Regis too long to recall the name of Noctis’s hired nanny. She stayed at the manor sometimes because it was so far out of the way of her actual home, and the manor had an entire set of unattached apartments on the property that his employees were free to make use of as long as they asked about it at least a day beforehand.

The young woman must have thought to check on Noctis, but when Regis looked at the door of his bedroom, he found it closed. She had granted them privacy, and they would not need her services that day. It was unfortunate that the blizzard had trapped her into her employer’s home.

He would have to give her a bonus on her next paycheck.

“Yes, there was a blizzard,” Regis explained, “and that means we get to spend the entire day together.”

Regis’s heart warmed as his son’s eyes brightened. He worked so much, and he feared the day when his son would look at him the way Regis used to look at his workaholic of a father: scornful.

“Let me get my knee brace,” he said as he pushed the terrible thought to the back of his mind. “Then, we’ll get to the kitchens and get something for breakfast.”

“Okay,” Noctis said.

Regis rolled out of bed, and he reached for the knee brace he had tossed onto a lower shelf on his side table. The hinged brace was more intense than the compression braces that he used on “good” days, or days when the swelling was not so bad, and it helped stabilize his old war injury, which doctors had yet to understand why it pained him so much all these years later.

Regis stood, and it was a relief when the knee in his pain was a dull ache because he would have hated to worry Noctis before their sudden vacation began. He held out his hand, and Noctis took it. His deep blue eyes stared up at him, a smile on his face that reminded him too much of the woman who had died when Noctis had been too young to remember her.

“What do you want to do today, Noctis?” Regis asked as he guided his boy into the hallway.

When Noctis did not answer, he looked down to find Noctis looking out the tall hallway window. Regis lifted Noctis onto his hip, uncaring of how it would aggravate his knee, and they looked outside together. The blizzard had calmed down, but it was windy enough to make it difficult for them to tell if there was fresh snow falling down or old snow drifting on the wind.

“Whoa!” Noctis gasped, and his eyes widened as he took it all in. “I can’t see anything out there.”

“That is a lot of snow,” Regis agreed.

It occurred to him it would have been a nice time to tell his boy about how he had met his mother, but Noctis was so young. He had yet to ask Regis why he had no mother of his own. That was a story for another time, he thought, for when he would better appreciate it.

Regis stood still there for another few minutes. When he thought he had aggravated his aching knee enough, he set Noctis back onto the ground. He repeated his question to Noctis, and this time, Noctis did not waste a second in telling him the answer:

“Play games!”

Regis chuckled. His boy loved his video games. He had heeded the advice to limit his play time every day, but he thought it was a special enough day he could make an exception.

“We can certainly arrange that.”

Noctis talked about the game he liked to play with Prompto. Listening to him talk with so much excitement made the long journey to the kitchens more bearable. Once they made it to the kitchens, it surprised him to find it empty, but it was nice to show off his limited cooking skills to Noctis.

It took some convincing to get Noctis to try his french toast, and to Regis’s relief, the boy ate it without complaint. Once their bellies were full, Regis made them hot chocolate to take with them into the entertainment room, and they began their day of lazying around and playing video games

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Any kudos or comments would be appreciated! My intention is to get one of these up every fifth day of the month, and the last one would be on Christmas Day. We begin with a story with Regis, and we'll get through all of the Chocobros. I don't know yet who is next, but Noctis will be last.
> 
> My original plan was to get a fic up every day in December, like I did last year, but motivation has been especially difficult lately, forcing me to lower the amount I post throughout the rest of this month. I hate to get too personal, but I've not had the best relationship with myself or my writing over the last decade, thanks to bad experiences with people I should have been able to trust. Posting fanfictions has been helpful in me getting some of my confidence back, but I'm still frustratingly having a difficult time following a consistent schedule. This year, of course, has been very demotivating for most people, and I haven't been unaffected, despite never having been very social, anyway.
> 
> All right. I'll stop rambling. Again, thank you so much for reading!


	2. Snowball Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not technically posting this rushed mess late. There's still an hour until midnight at my time zone, so it's still on time.
> 
> I would blame my mother for having a birthday this week, but I also ended up binge-reading a couple fics, so....
> 
> Anyway, it's definitely a rushed mess.

Most people thought of Gladiolus as an instigator. In some ways it was true. Amicitias were traditionally competitive over everything, but they were usually good sports no matter who won. Ignis had long learned that whenever the Amicitia and the Caelum clan got together, it was always the small and “shy” Noctis who came up with all the ideas that would inevitably get them all in trouble, somehow convincing the two older and “responsible” children to join in his plan as well.

In the Winter, things were easier. Noctis was not fond of the cold, so there would be no climbing onto the roof of the mansion to see if they could build something that would survive a multi-story fall, no hopping into the pond to terrorize Regis’s award-winning koi fish, and no climbing fences just to see if they could beat their times from the week before. Regis had already made it clear there would be no attempts to ice skate over any ponds, and there would be no sledding because there was not enough space in their courtyards.

Noctis seemed happy enough helping Prompto in building a snowman, something perfectly ordinary. He just gathered up snow and pressed it onto the ball of snow that Prompto, who had been disappointed that rolling a ball of snow to make one big one did not work as well in real life as it did in the cartoons, was determined to make it look like the picture perfect snowman. There was no sign of mischief on the eight-year-old’s face.

Noctis was calm. He listened to Prompto’s story about something he and his father had done together the other day, nodding along to show that he was paying attention. When he paused, it was only to pick off bits of snow that clung to his gloves.

Ignis could not help but watch him out of the corner of his eye, and he kept his back away from him as he bent down to help round out the first layer of snow for Prompto’s project. In between Prompto’s energetic storytelling, he could hear the adult’s voices floating outside, and when he glanced up, he saw Cor standing near the window in the sitting room, looking at someone in the house. Having Cor’s eyes on them offered Ignis little comfort because the man often encouraged Noctis’s antics.

It was as Prompto had made the second layer of their snowman that Gladio’s voice could be heard calling out to them. The three of them turned away from the snowman, and Gladiolus ran around the corner of the mansion and toward them. Prompto paused in his snow sculpting to throw his arms around the older boy in greeting. Noctis was quick to pile on top of the two.

“Sorry, I took so long,” Gladiolus said, not sounding sorry at all. “I had to tire Iris out so she would lay down for a nap.”  
Ignis recalled the time when Gladiolus had been reluctant to spend any time with his little sister, but now the two were inseparable. They were lucky to get to spend time with the boy at all these days.

“So, we’re just building a snowman out here?” Gladiolus asked.

“The best snowman!” Prompto declared as he rushed back to it.

There was a glint in Gladiolus’s eye, and he turned the look to Ignis, who realized he was about to be pulled into something.

“I bet you I can make a better snowman,” Gladiolus said, smirking.

“No way!” Prompto cried. “Mine’s going to be way better, and I’ve been working on it for a long time already!”

“Yeah, but I’m going to get help from Iggy! Come on, Iggy! Let’s make a better snowman!”

Ignis sighed, but he could not help the smile that crept onto his face. As long as no one dumped snow down the back of his coat during all of this, he was fine with playing along. He pushed his glasses up his nose, and he went to Gladiolus’s side to help the older boy pack fresh snow together for a new snowman.

“Losers have to make hot chocolate for everyone!” Noctis declared.

Even though Ignis knew protesting was pointless, he said:

“Now, considering, that I helped with—”

“You’re on!” Gladiolus said.

Ignis rolled his eyes, but that was how half their little competitions began.

Everyone rushed to gather up snow and smash it onto their snowmen. Ignis was the only one on his team who cared about making the snowman more presentable. Gladiolus just slapped the snow together and let Ignis shape it into something nicer.

They gave it a cylindrical body with a round head. Prompto had brought an overabundance of buttons, and they used them to make the face. Sticks from a nearby tree served as its arms. Gladiolus let his beanie cap cool off for a few minutes before he pulled it over the snowman’s head. Once satisfied with their work, they turned to Prompto and Noctis’s snowman just as the blond was pressing his buttons into the face.

It was clear who had put the most effort into the snowman. Prompto’s was as picture perfect as he had wanted it to be: three round balls sitting on top of each other. It wore a little plaid coat with sticks protruding from the sleeves and a matching fur hat. Red buttons at the corners of the mile made it look like it was blushing. Orange plastic made up its nose.

“That’s actually adorable,” Gladiolus admitted.

Prompto beamed at his work. He spun to see if his father was still watching him from the window, and when he saw that he was, he ran to the window, shouting for him to look at his project.

“So, I think we can all agree that Prom and I made the best snowman,” Noctis said.

He looked so smug, smirking at them, and he had his hands on his hips.

“Yes, you have indeed won, Noctis,” Ignis sighed, even though there had never been a doubt in anyone’s mind that was how it was going to end.

“Even though Prompto did most of the work,” Gladiolus added.

“Yeah, and you stole Iggy from us halfway through,” Noctis said, “which means you’re the real loser, and since you’re the real loser, that means you have to make hot chocolate all by yourself.”

Gladiolus made one slow blink as he took in what Noctis had said, and then he narrowed his eyes. His lips curled with a barely suppressed smile as he attempted to look intimidating despite his amusement.

“Why do I get the feeling you let me steal Iggy just so you could call me a loser?” the older boy said.

“Well, I didn’t need an excuse to call you a loser,” Noctis said, his smirk widening into a grin. “You already are one.”

Ignis sighed, as he did often around Gladiolus and Noctis. He watched the younger boy squeal in laughter as the older chased after him, forming a snowball in his hands before launching it. Prompto stopped shouting at Cor through the window to shout at them not to ruin the snowmen before he got a picture of them, and then he was pulled into the fight as Gladiolus and Noctis both threw snowballs at him.

Knowing full well that the three of them would drag him into the fight as well, Ignis made a snowball and joined in. A few minutes later, the four boys walked into the mansion covered in snow and shivering from the amount of time they had spent outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even taking into co sideration how rushed this is, I'm honestly not happy with this. Every time I sat down to write for it I srtuggled to find the words I wanted for some reason. I flopped perspectives several times, too, and I couldn't figure out how to end it.
> 
> I would say that I might go back and rewrite this in the future, but I probably won't. I never do every time I say that (and I've said it quite a few times, I think).
> 
> Anyway, I hope this was fun despite everything. Thank you fo reading! I'm sorry I ended up complaining again. Haha
> 
> This week was unusually hectic for me, so hopefully I'll be able to put more time into writing the next one. I'm strongly leaning towards a fic in Prompto's perspective. I can say that Noctis will be in his wheelchair for the remaining three fics.


	3. Tree Decorating

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not late again. You’re the one who’s late.
> 
> All right, fine. I’m late, but it was before midnight at my time zone, I swear.
> 
> I hope you enjoy Carbuncle. I haven’t gotten to write about this version of him much before, and he’s a special boy.

As soon as Cor parked the car, Prompto made a mad dash for the side entrance of the massive Lucis Caelum Manor. His overnight bag slapped his back as he ran.

“Prompto, slow down!” Cor shouted. “You’ll fall on the ice!”

The blond boy huffed, but he did not slow his pace down. He heard his father sigh, but he did not have the patience to wait for his old man to catch up to him. It had been a while since he had seen Noctis—a whole two days—and he had been dying to check on him and his cute little cat, not that Prompto would never admit out loud that he was just as excited to see it as he was to see his best friend.

Prompto dashed through the massive Lucis Caelum Manor, and he had been there enough times to know how to get to Noctis’s bedroom. He slowed his pace to dodge the pricier family heirlooms that sat on display throughout the expansive hallways. None of the cleaning people were there to greet him or chastise him for running.

Prompto made it to the bedroom wing of the house, and he tested the doorknob to make sure it was unlocked before he went into the room with much less energy than he had exerted getting there. He peeked around the door.

Noctis’s bedroom was enormous. It had a bed far larger than any nine-year-old boy would need, a walk-in closet, a full bath, a small office space, and a sitting area. Prompto had never understood the need for so much space, but the city had built the Manor several generations ago, after the Lucis Caelum line had abdicated their throne and become a family of entrepreneurs instead. They had been reluctant to let go of the extravagant lifestyle of being royalty.

Noctis sat on the bed, back leaning against his pillows. His blankets covered his legs. A large and fluffy white cat, Carbuncle, sat in his lap, and it glanced up to watch the newcomer. He only had its attention for a second before it looked back at Noctis, and the black-haired boy looked up at him. The corners of his lips turned up for a moment in the ghost of his smile.

Prompto felt a pang in his chest. He missed his friend’s annoying smirks, but he was quite happy with having his friend at all. No one had known if he was even alive for a while, and he thought he would be a different person as well if he had gone through everything Noctis had.

“Hey, Noct!” Prompto called, no longer worried about waking him.

“Hey.”

As he watched the cat scrub its face against Noctis’s fingers, Prompto recalled the jealousy he had felt over Noctis having a cute pet while his dad refused to allow any animals other than fishes into his house. The feeling had not lasted long when he had reminded himself Noctis would be in a wheelchair for the rest of life, and the guilt over the feeling had come when he had caught Noctis smiling for the first time since his accident.

Noctis had been out of his coma for a couple weeks before Cor had brought the cat, who had been living in Nyx’s alleyway until Regis had decided he needed to get a pet for Noctis. The cat had shown no shy bone in his body, even after being uprooted from his home, and Noctis had given the cat the same ghost of a smile as he had when Prompto had arrived.

Prompto tossed his bag onto a couch, and he ran up to Noctis’s bed. He could hear the cat purring as it received attention, and he ran a hand down its back. The cat lifted its butt as most cats did when you scratched near their tails.

“Hey, Bunny!” he said, giggling.

On a normal day, this was the part when Prompto would ask him how he was doing, but it felt inappropriate to ask that nowadays. If their situations were reversed, Prompto was sure he would burst into tears every time someone asked. Noctis was still sad, and Prompto only knew how to be a distraction. He played that role for his dad often enough.

Prompto sat on the edge of Noctis’s bed.

“Are Iggy and Gladio going to be here, too?” he asked.

“Clarus is bringing him and Iris tomorrow,” Noctis said, “and Spec's going on a trip with his uncle. He won’t be back until New Year’s.”

Prompto nodded. No one minded Gladio hanging around all the time, but Prompto had overheard the adults talking about how much they worried about Ignis always wanting to take care of everyone. They had worried it was worse now that Noctis was in a wheelchair forever. He did not understand the details of it, but he missed having his friend around.

Noctis let out a soft sigh, and he lifted Carbuncle from his lap.

“My dad wants us to hang out in the family room,” he said. “He wants us to decorate the tree together.”

Prompto nodded. It was a tradition Regis insisted they do every year. Cor never seemed into it himself, and he never set up decorations at their house, saving all of his holiday energy for whenever he vacationed with Regis. They usually did it at the vacation house in Cape Caem, but after everything that had happened with Noctis, Regis was reluctant to make Noctis leave the house, let alone the city.

“You can take Bunny with you if you want. I need to go to the bathroom first.”

He held out the cat to Prompto, who wasted no time in gathering the fluffy thing in his arms and burying his face in the cat’s feather-soft fur. 

Prompto glanced at the wheelchair to make sure it was within Noctis’s reach. If the boy fell, it would be hard for him to pick him up and help him into the chair, so even if he wanted to help his friend into the wheelchair, not the Noctis would appreciate the offer to help, he would have to ask the adults to help.

Carbuncle was a purring bundle of fur the entire journey to the family room, which was one of many sitting rooms within the Manor, but it had the best view of the courtyard on the bottom floor, making it Regis’s favorite place to spend the holidays. He checked the bottom of the stairs to make sure Noctis’s other wheelchair was within reach of the seat that would carry him downstairs.

Cor and Regis were standing in the room, facing a bare pine tree until Prompto entered the room. The smell of the tree took over the usual smells of leather and furniture polish.

“Ah, there you are, Prompto,” Regis said. “How have you been, young man?”

Carbuncle wriggled, and Prompto set him on the floor before he leaped out of his arms. He watched the cat go up to the tree as he answered:

“I’m okay.”

Regis’s limp was barely noticeable as he walked up to Prompto, smiling, and he ruffled Prompto’s hair.

“Good, good. Is Noctis going to join us?”

“Yeah, he said he was.”

“Ah, why don’t you look through the decorations until he comes down, decide what you want to put on the tree.”

There were several stacks of totes near the tree. Prompto watched Carbuncle as he went to them. He had a feeling it was a bad idea to let a cat, who liked to climb and explore things, into the same room as the big Christmas tree, but then again, everyone would be reluctant to tell Noctis he could not bring the first thing that had made him smile into the room.

Prompto tuned out the adults complaining about work as he looked through the garland in one tote. Someone had covered the water under the tree, which meant Prompto did not have to worry about the cat drinking it, but kept watch over Carbuncle as the cat stared up at the tree as if trying to decide the best way to get into it. There were no toys in sight to distract him.

There was more than enough garland to distract Prompto. There were more colors in the totes than he had thought was necessary, and he wrapped a pale blue string around himself just to see how much it would take over his body.

Prompto was wrapping a yellow string around himself when Regis called to Noctis. His friend’s cheeks turned red as his father stood from the couch to fawn over him. The commotion was enough to draw Carbuncle’s attention away from jumping on the tree.

“Prompto, what on Eos are you doing?”

Prompto startled at his father’s voice. He found Cor sitting on the couch, and he chuckled as he looked at him. The two Lucis Caelums turned to him as well, and Noctis’s eyebrows raised in surprise before he giggled, a sound he had not heard in far too long.

The blond felt his cheeks warm, and a more precious warmth rose in his chest. He giggled, too. Instead of taking it off and hiding his embarrassment, he tossed the end of the garland over his shoulder like a scarf or a feathered boa, and he grinned at them.

“I thought they would look better on me,” he said.

“You look fabulous,” Regis said in between chuckles of his own. “Oh, where did I set my camera?”

After Prompto posed for Regis’s camera, Prompto draped some dark blue and purple garland around Noctis, earning more laughter from his friend. That meant they both had to pose for more pictures.

The four of them decorated the tree after that. Cor and Regis decorated the top. Prompto put as many colors in the middle as he could. Noctis could only reach the bottom branches, but he spent most of the time distracting Carbuncle from the tree with toys he apparently kept hidden in his wheelchair.

The tree in the family room was typically like something from a magazine. Servants used to be the ones in charge of it. This time, four people who cared little for giving it a nice cohesive look had gone ham on it, and the middle section looked particularly chaotic, thanks to a certain blond boy. They left the top of the tree bare.

“I think Gladio will get mad if we don’t leave something for him,” Regis said as they admired their chaotic mess.

Cor only hummed in agreement.

“Anyone else want some hot chocolate?” Regis asked.

“Me!” Prompto cried as he lifted his hand in the air and bounced on his heels.

“I do,” Noctis said with far less enthusiasm.

“All right, then, let’s go to the kitchen!”

Cor sighed as he realized he would be the one tasked with making the hot chocolate for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Prompto Decorating” would have been a better chapter title. I also can’t be the only one who used to wrap themselves in garland or party streamers when they were younger (and a teenager; the party streamers thing became a tradition for my friend and me).
> 
> Also, in this AU, Noctis is paraplegic, and for the rest of these stories, he’ll be in his wheelchair. He’ll get much happier, though, I promise. The adults and Ignis have their own issues, too, but this series is supposed to be about Noctis.
> 
> I hadn’t realized that December 13th had been the anniversary of Episode Ignis, and I might have gone for an Ignis-centric fic for the day if I had realized because it’s kind of an important day for me, weirdly enough. If that DLC had never come out I would have never given FFXV a second chance (because I hadn’t really liked it that much before), and I never would have gotten into fanfiction either (because I hadn’t understood the point in it before).
> 
> I’m also a little sad I don’t feel up to participating in the Shinra Holiday stuff this week for the FFVII fandom. It’s rare that I find out about a fan event thingy, but my brain’s too melted to split my time between yet another project (I’m going back and forth between three going on right now, including this one).
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! I had originally rambled on and on forever (I’m talking at least five more long, long paragraphs of nonsense), but I cut 90% of it out. haha At least I stopped complaining about things.
> 
> Although I’m not happy with how late I’m posting this, but I’m slowly but surely working on that.


	4. Road Trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think this counts as a Winter-themed prompt, but it was the only idea I came up with that I liked.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it! I have my complaints about this one, but I’m overall happy with it.

There were a lot of questionable decisions that their parents’ had made throughout their children’s lives. Allowing Noctis to move out on his own at only fifteen was among one of the worst, not that anyone was asking for Gladio’s opinion, but as Gladio realized he had no idea where he was, letting him drive Iris and Noctis all the way to Cape Caem was up there on the list of stupid decisions.

Gladio had wanted the time alone with Noctis—as alone as he could be with a ten-year-old Iris tagging along. He had entertained a romantic idea of the trip in his head, but he had never driven farther than Hammerhead in the Leide region, which was close to the city of Insomnia. The mobile Internet issues had never even occurred to him as an obstacle on their journey.

Not for the first time, Gladio cursed Ignis’s absence. He never would have gotten them lost.

Gladio pulled into the gas station, and he hoped Iris was too distracted talking to Noctis to notice that they still had a half-full tank of gas, which should have been more than enough to get to the vacation house in a couple of hours. He needed the excuse so he could figure out where he was before the younger two got worried. Noctis, at least, had spent most of his time looking out the window instead of paying attention to Gladio, so he was confident Noctis had not yet figured out their predicament.

“You guys can get some stuff in the convenience store, if you want,” Gladio said.

“I want to look around!” Iris exclaimed.

Iris had made it a point to get key chains from every little town they stopped at, and she had attached them all to her coat. They jingled and clacked together as she bounced in her seat. Gladio looked behind him as he handed her the credit card. She was a fan of black and red plaid. The pattern covered her hat and the flannel shirt peeking out from beneath her puffy coat. The ten-year-old yanked the card out of his fingers, and she giggled as she climbed out of the vehicle. Cool air rushed into the vehicle, and Gladio caught Noctis shiver out of the corner of his eye.

“Remember to wait for someone to go with you,” Gladio reminded her.

Iris skipped to the back of the vehicle. Her feet crunched against the salt and snow with every step.

“She never loses her enthusiasm, does she?” Noctis chuckled.

Gladio looked at his friend sitting in the front passenger seat. A black beanie cap pushed his darker hair to his jawline, framing his face. The cold flushed his cheeks. His soft smile, which had been so rare just a few years ago, brightened his face, and it lightened something in Gladio’s chest despite their situation.

Noctis had been biting his lips, making them even more chapped. Ignis would give him that “disappointed mother” look for letting him get so bad, but his uncle had dragged him to another one of his family gatherings instead of being allowed to spend time with Noctis like he wanted.

Gladio realized he was staring at his friend’s handsome face. Looking for the tube of lip balm was a good excuse to force his eyes away. He had tucked it into the middle arm rest because of Noctis’s bad lip-biting habit. The black-haired boy took it with a roll of his eyes.

“You want to go in, too, Princess?” Gladio asked. “Watch over little squirt while I fill up the tank?”

Noctis shrugged his shoulders, keeping silent as he applied the lip balm. He unlocked his seat belt, but there was not much else he could do until someone grabbed his wheelchair for him. Gladio could tell it bothered him that the SUV did not allow him to haul himself into his wheelchair; he always glanced around them with his mouth pinched in embarrassment, but he always accepted Gladio’s help without complaint.

It was another stupid decision to take his SUV instead of borrowing a car that sat lower to the ground, but Noctis had been insistent he would be fine.

Gladio unlocked the trunk and the fuel door, and he climbed out of the SUV. Iris was already reaching for Noctis’s folded-up wheelchair, but Gladio took it from her.

“I can get it, Gladdy!” Iris whined.

“It’s almost as big as you are, squirt.”

“I got it before!”

“I’ll let you push it in a second.”

Gladio set up the chair, and Iris pushed it to the passenger’s side of the vehicle, stopping just before it could block the door. Noctis opened his door as Gladio approached. He already had that pinched look on his face.

“You ready?”

Gladio waited for his stiff nod before he shoved his hands under Noctis, who wrapped an arm around Gladio’s neck, and he transferred him into the wheelchair. He let Noctis adjust himself in the wheelchair, and he turned to Iris.

“Don’t run off,” he said. “You’ll fall, and Noct can’t keep up with you.”

“I won’t!” Iris said with indignation, like she would never even consider the idea.

That might have been true when hanging out with Noctis, but Gladio could recall all the times he had had to chase her through the store. She was faster than he had expected a little kid to be, even for someone as tall as him.

Gladio watched the two enter the convenience store, and he leaned against the SUV as he waited for the tank to fill. He pulled out his cell phone from his coat jacket, and he turned on the mobile data, which had been practically useless during most of the trip.

In Insomnia, it was easy to get decent speeds on your phone no matter where you went, but in the remote areas of the Lucian continent, he was lucky if he got a weak signal. Cell towers were just being built throughout the world, and the Cleigne region was especially behind. It had made using a map app difficult, and he was sure the maps that loaded were outdated because there were roads he had come across that he had not seen on his phone.

Gladio cursed under his breath as his phone failed to find a signal. He looked through the windows of the convenience store, and he spotted Iris near the front register, hopping with excitement over something. Noctis rolled into view. A basket sat in his lap, and Iris took it from him to set it on the counter.

Gladio’s chest tightened. Anxiety was not something he felt often, but he had promised to get his friend and little sister to Cape Caem safely. Now he had gotten them lost in a place he had only seen in a plane before.

With a sigh, Gladio put away the gas nozzle, and he prepared himself to go inside the convenience store. As he turned, Iris and Noctis left the convenience store, and a young man walked out behind them, holding a tray full of drinks for the three of them. Iris ran ahead of them, and she held up her newest key chain.

“Gladdy! Gladdy! Gladdy!” she exclaimed. “Look what I got!”

With a forced smile, Gladio leaned down to get a better look at her latest fashion accessory. It was a little stuffed moogle dressed in what he assumed was the uniform of a local sports team. He ruffled her hair, earning a squawk as he displaced her hat.

“It’s cute,” he told her.

“Isn’t it?”

The young man held out the cups to Gladio.

“G’ afternoon, sir,” he said in an accent he had never heard before, and in Insomnia, he had heard many strange accents. “These here are two hot chocolates ‘n’ a coffee with sugar.”

“Thanks.”

“Not a problem, sir.”

To Gladio’s horror, the man told him the directions to the Lucis Caelum vacation house in Cape Caem. He felt his cheeks heat, and he glanced at Noctis, who shrugged his shoulders.

“Is that all ya need, sir?” the young man asked when he finished giving directions.

“Yeah, that’s all. Thanks a lot.”

“Not a problem, sir. Y’all be careful now!”

The young man nodded at them, and then he left them alone in the parking lot. Iris begged for her hot chocolate, and he made her get in the SUV before he set a cup in a cup holder for her. Then, he turned to Noctis, who was giving him one of his infuriating smirks.

“I wasn’t lost,” Gladio said.

“Uh-huh, and we definitely didn’t pass the same street signs three times because you knew exactly where you were going.”

Gladio huffed, but he felt the tension ease in his chest. He forgot how perceptive the kid was. Noctis liked to pretend he felt no concern for anything, but he always paid attention when it mattered most.

“Whatever,” Gladio grumbled. “Let’s get you in the car.”

Noctis chuckled, and he kept the smirk even as Gladio lifted him back into the SUV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's ignore that cell phones worked just fine in the game no matter where you were.
> 
> This AU is technically GladNoct, but we haven't made it there yet. They still think their love is unrequited forever.
> 
> A winter-y GladNoct fic would have been super cute, but I did not think of it until a few minutes before posting this. Curse my brain!
> 
> Although I'm generally terrible at writing romance. It doesn't come up often in my work.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! The next (and final) one will be on Christmas, and it’ll be from Noctis’s perspective.


	5. Hot Chocolate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going through the other fics to get myself into the mood to write this one, and it turns out I’ve mentioned hot chocolate in every single one of these. It was not on purpose, but I was inspired to just use it as a prompt this time.
> 
> Also, I apologize for this being late. Things got a little more hectic than I had expected, and I was unable to finish it in time. This is also longer than I had expected it to be.

Noctis felt a smile tug at his lips as he watched Gladio and Iris arguing with each other about the best place to make snow angels. Iris wanted to make sure everyone could see them from the road as they drove by the Cape Caem house. Gladio had wanted nothing to do with it, but Iris always talked her older brother into just about anything.

“Noctis, are you all right?”

He turned to his father, who leaned heavily against his cane. The swelling in his knee was visible despite the compress he wore around it. Winter weather always did that, but Noctis hated to imagine the pain he went through.

“Yeah, Dad, I’m fine,” he said, and he nodded toward the Amicitia siblings. “Just watching those two.”

Iris turned toward the road, and she held her arms straight out to her sides before she fell back into the snow. She laughed as she flapped her arms and legs to make the snow angel.

“Come on, Gladdy! You promised!”

Gladio sighed, but he did the same as she had done, making a much larger angel next to hers.

A long time ago, Noctis had watched the siblings do that, and he had felt a pang of jealousy in his chest. There was never any doubt in his mind that his family would help him make one as well, but it used to anger him how he could never do it on his own.

Noctis could not say that anger had gone away, but now he realized that his family would never exclude him from anything, as long as it was possible for him to be involved. The event that had made him feel the most alien in their world had made them strive to make him feel like an important part of it.

Ignis’s feet crunched in the snow as he joined them in observing the Amicitas. Gladio had convinced his tiny sister to try pulling him off the ground so he did not ruin his snow angel. Iris gave it an honest effort, but Gladio was a lot for anybody to lift, let alone a 100-pound girl.

“Are we going in?” Ignis asked. “Or are we staying out here with them?”

Noctis looked up at his friend, who he regarded as a brother. It had been sometime since he had joined them on Winter vacation. Before Noctis’s accident, his uncle had never hesitated to bring him around for a few days before taking away to meet with the rest of his family, but after his uncle had insisted it was better to spend more time with his real relatives rather than his close friends. Now that he was older, Ignis got to choose for himself how to spend his Winter vacation.

“I’m going in,” Noctis said.

The groundskeepers who stayed in the vacation house until the Caelums vacationed there had already cleared a path to help both Noctis and Regis make it to the house. It did not stop Iris from pushing him as hard as she could to make him laugh.

Once they made it inside, everyone sprawled out in the family room and watched movies while eating nothing but junk food. Iris migrated to Noctis’s side, as she always did whenever the families were together. When Cor, Prompto, and Nyx made it, the house became livelier, and the older adults left for the kitchen, allowing the younger people to play video games for the rest of the night.

Ignis was the first to fall asleep, sprawling out over a couch, and Prompto draped a blanket over him. Iris was a close second, and Gladio was not too far behind. Once Gladio startled himself awake, he gathered his little sister into his arms and carried her upstairs. Prompto and Noctis turned off their game as their eyes grew heavy, and the next thing Noctis knew, the room was dark, the TV was off, and Prompto had buried himself beneath a blanket as he slept on the same couch as Noctis, feet resting on Noctis’s lap.

It was no surprise that Ignis had already left the room, but Noctis could not smell breakfast being made.

Noctis searched around for his phone, and he found it tucked under his thigh. It was close to 7:00 AM, late for Ignis on a normal day, but he had been up for a long time with them, even if he had been the first to fall asleep. The time was far too early for Noctis, who liked to sleep in until noon on a normal day, but if he was awake now, it would be better to take care of a few of his needs.

Prompto did little more than grumble as Noctis pushed his feet away, and he made no complaints as Noctis transferred himself into his wheelchair. Noctis went to the bathroom, and as he left, he noticed a light on in the kitchen, sending shadows across the long hallway floor. He followed the light, and his eyebrows flew to his hairline when he realized who was there.

Regis, who had passed on his worst sleeping habits to his son, stretched an arm into an upper cabinet, leaning heavily on his leg. He pulled out something, and as he turned with it, he noticed Noctis, jumping and gasping with surprise.

“Oh, Noctis!” he said, and he chuckled as he put his hand over heart. “My boy, you scared me.”

“Sorry, Dad,” Noctis said. “I just couldn’t believe that both of us are awake before Ignis.”

“Ah, yes, that is rather strange, isn’t it?”

Regis turned back to gather things from the cabinets: sugar, marshmallows, and mugs. He placed them next to the cinnamon and cocoa he had already placed on the counter.

“Are you making hot chocolate?” Noctis asked. 

“Yes, my room got a little cold, and I started craving it.”

“Can you make it?”

Regis quirked an eyebrow at his son.

“Who do you think taught Cor and Clarus?”

“Uncle Weskham?”

Regis snorted at that.

“Well, I see why you would have made that assumption, but it’s actually a recipe your mother taught me when we were young.”

Noctis startled at the mention of his mother. Regis never spoke of his mother. A few years ago, had shown Noctis a baby book she had made for him, and it had taken him fifteen years to find the strength to do that. Regis spoke of her more now than he had before that day.

Noctis watched his father measure out ingredients into a pan, and he spoke as he worked:

“I remember Aulea used to complain about store-bought hot chocolate tasting nothing like real hot chocolate, and she always made it for me. Eventually she taught it to me so I could make it myself because I was always begging her to make it.”

Regis stirred the contents in the saucepan, and Noctis could see the ghost of a smile on the older man’s face. Noctis wanted to ask for more, but Noctis had learned to let Regis speak of her on his own. If Noctis tried to mention her, he never got much information out of him.

“I never told you how we met, did I?” Regis said. “Your mother and I. I’ve always been a bit of a coward when it comes to your mother. We were small children, about six or seven years old. It was a blizzard, like that one we had when you were a little boy. Do you remember that day, Noctis?”

Noctis had been only four years old on the day of the blizzard, the last one to have occurred in Insomnia. He had fuzzy memories of sitting on the couch, pressed against his father’s side as they played games together.

“Only a little,” Noctis said, and he nodded, even though Regis’s back faced him.

“There have only been three since I was born,” Regis said. “They’re rare here, but I’ve always found them special days. Last time, I spent the entire day with you, and I made hot chocolate for you, which I suppose was the last time I made it for you. The second time, I was trapped in Clarus’s home, and we drove his poor mother insane with our antics.”

Regis chuckled, and Noctis smiled as he recalled how mischievous the two were together when they had none of their other friends to temper them. When Regis stopped chuckling, he looked at the hot chocolate melting before him, and he turned to hide his expression from Noctis.

“But the first time,” Regis continued, “was the day I met your mother.”

The sounds of Regis stirring the contents of the saucepan were the only sounds in the kitchen as Regis fell silent. Noctis watched him as he poured the hot chocolate into mugs. Regis topped their drinks with excessive amounts of cinnamon, marshmallows, and whipped cream, and Noctis followed him to the table as he carried their mugs there. His leg looked less swollen than it had in a long time, to Noctis’s surprise, and Regis did not spill their hot drinks.

Noctis and Regis both took a sip of their drinks. Sweet chocolate and cinnamon coated Noctis’s tongue. He hummed at the familiar flavor, and he realized it was just like the hot chocolate Clarus and Cor had been making him for years.

“Don’t look so surprised, son,” Regis said, chuckling.

“I didn’t know you could make it.”

“It has been too long, hasn’t it? Perhaps I should teach you to make it sometime.”

“I don’t think Ignis trusts me to use anything other than the microwave, and even then, it’s pushing his patience.”

“I think he’ll make an exception for me.”

Regis took a big gulp of his drink before he continued:

“Now, onto the story of how I met your mother. My mother had somehow convinced ole Mors to take us with him on his business trip. We were trapped in a hotel, and I was running around the lobby, looking for a place to hide from my mother. There was a little girl there, and I caught her just as she was about to go outside.”

“Mom was just going to go outside in a blizzard?” Noctis chuckled.

“Oh, if only that was the least reckless thing I’ve had to stop her from, and you’ll never guess why either. Someone’s dog had been caught in the storm, and she wanted to go out there and rescue it herself.”

Regis chuckled, and he shook his head.

“Somehow, she convinced me to go outside with her, and the staff had to go outside to rescue all three of us. Our parents weren’t thrilled with us, but the dog seemed grateful.”

“That had to have been scary,” Noctis said.

“Oh, definitely. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it back inside, but it earned me a cute girl’s number. That made it all worth it.”

Noctis and Regis both laughed. The older man gazed at his son with the softest smile.

“You have the same beautiful eyes as your mother,” Regis said, for what felt like the millionth time, “and they always convince me to give you anything you want.”

“They never convinced you to get me a rocket ship,” Noctis teased.

“And let you leave the planet without me? I could never allow it.”

The shuffling of feet drew their attention to the doorway. Ignis stood there, blinking tired eyes at them.

“Morning, Specs,” Noctis greeted him first.

“Yes, good morning, Ignis. I hope you’ve slept well.”

Ignis stared at the two Lucis Caelum for a full minute. Then, he pinched his arm.

“It seems I have not died in my sleep and gone to the afterlife,” he said.

They all laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When you're just winging these things, sometimes you start at a place that is completely unnecessary to where you end up. This is one of those times, but I decided to keep the beginning, anyway. *shrug*
> 
> Anyway, thank you so much for reading! I would appreciate it if you let me know what you thought. Happy holidays to anyone who celebrates one of them! This is the last of these little stories and the last thing I will post this year, but ideally, I’ll have plenty more to share next year.
> 
> My plan is to have one CorNyx novel set in this AU finished by March (why March? My birthday is the first day of the month) and post it throughout the month. I plan to have other things done by then, including an original story and my first FFVII fanfic, but I don't want to overwhelm myself.
> 
> Now I'm off to finally play The Last Guardian. I wish everyone a happy New Year!


End file.
